Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen had top secret security clearance at FBI for almost 2 decades, pleads guilty to providing US secrets to Communist China from 2011 to 2016. Relatives of Chun also received money-WSJ. US Justice Dept. has dropped at least 3 high profile Chinese spy cases in past two years

.
8/1/16, "FBI Employee Pleads Guilty to Feeding Information to China," Wall St. Journal, Nicole Hong

Reuters

Image, "Kun Shan Chun pleaded guilty in federal court in New York on Monday

to having acted as an agent of the Chinese government. Photo: Nate Raymond/Reuters" 
 
"Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen faces about two years in prison under plea agreement."

"A longtime Federal Bureau of Investigation employee pleaded guilty on Monday to acting as an agent for the Chinese government and sending sensitive information about the U.S. government to a Chinese official.

Kun Shan Chun, 46 years old, worked at the FBI’s New York field office as an electronics technician and had been granted top-secret security clearance for almost two decades. Mr. Chun, who was arrested in March, was born in Guangdong, China, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1986. On Monday, Mr. Chun admitted in Manhattan federal court to feeding sensitive information to a Chinese government official....

“Between 2011 and 2016, on various occasions, I acted in the U.S. at the direction of a Chinese official,” Mr. Chun told the judge on Monday. “At the time, I knew that was wrong, and I am sorry for my actions.”...

His lawyer, federal defender Jonathan Marvinny, said his client “deeply regrets” the mistakes he has made.

“The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the U.S. and never intended to cause it any harm,” Mr. Marvinny said in a statement. “He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life.”

Mr. Chun was introduced to the Chinese government official in 2011 during a trip to Italy and France, prosecutors said....
To conceal his relationship with the Chinese official and other Chinese nationals, Mr. Chun repeatedly lied to the FBI on forms related to his security clearance, prosecutors allege.
...........
The case is likely to raise fears in the U.S. government about suspected economic espionage by China, which has become a heightened focus for the Justice Department in recent years. In 2014, U.S. prosecutors charged five Chinese military employees who allegedly hacked into U.S. companies and won the convictions of two engineers accused of selling trade secrets to Chinese companies.
.........
But the crackdown on Chinese spies has also sparked criticism by Chinese-American leaders, who say the U.S. government is racially profiling their community. Over the past two years, the Justice Department has dropped at least three high-profile cases related to Chinese espionage....
.........
The relationship came with perks. The associates helped Mr. Chun pay for prostitutes and trips overseas, and on at least one occasion, they paid him “a couple thousand” dollars, he told the undercover agent, according to prosecutors. Relatives of Mr. Chun, who also received payments from the associates and invested in Kolion, allegedly urged him to go along with the arrangement.
........
Mr. Chun said he communicated with his Chinese associates through WeChat and tried to avoid using the phone, prosecutors said."...

......


.......................